Friday, August 13, 2010

My Favorite Webcomics

Do you read webcomics? You should, they're awesome. Here are some I read:

Unshelved
A library-themed webcomic? Indeed it is! The main character, a young adult librarian named Dewey, was one of my main inspirations for going to library school. Set in the Mallville Public Library, the strip also features computer-hating old-school librarian Colleen, by-the-book library manager Mel, super-friendly vegan children's librarian Tamara, troubled library page Buddy the Book Beaver, scheming adolescent Merv and Ned the naked lawyer.

Questionable Content
A comedic, indie rock oriented soap opera in (usually) four-panel form. One of only a handful of strips I read everyday. I would recommend starting at the very beginning and working your way to the beginning.

Nothing Nice To Say
Written and drawn by the amazing Mitch Clem, NN2S was the self-proclaimed first punk rock webcomic. The strip followed roommates Blake and Fletcher as they listened to punk rock, played in their band and interacted with a number of other subculture characters. Mitch has been busy doing album art (including every release in Vinyl Collective's Under The Influence series), comics for zines (specifically Razorcake, which he also writes for sometimes) and who knows what else, so NN2S hasn't updated in quite a long time, but every once in a while I reread the archives.

Multiplex, Theater Hopper
Two seperate webcomics by two different authors, but I put them together to keep the post from getting too long. Both of these are movie based. Multiplex takes the long-form story format, kinda like Questionable Content. The strip takes place in a movie theater and deals with the day-to-day drama of the employees, who often talk about movie news. Parodies of and references to specific movies are common. Theater Hopper used to have movie-related story arcs, but due to the increasingly busy personal life of its creator it has been cut down to one update a week and most strips are now standalone stories.

Cyanide & Happiness, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Again, two seperate comics made by different people. However, both are daily strips that don't have storylines (though C&H occasionally has a few days with a common theme). C&H is made with simple stick figure drawings (though later strips are relatively more complex than the earlier strips) and is drawn a a couple different people. The humor is dark and it's probably the least family-friendly strip I read. SMBC is often compared to The Far Side. Each strip is self-contained and is usually composed of one panel and a caption, though it often breaks this format. The humor is bizarre and occasionally crude. It is probably the most nerd-friendly strip I read, as the content often involves math jokes, physics jokes, classic literature, comic book references and philosophy.

My Stupid Life, San Antonia Rock City
Both of these are/were autobiographical webcomics by Mitch Clem. SARC was about him and his then-girlfriend after their move to San Antonio. After they broke up, Mitch officially retired the comic. My Stupid Life is about Mitch and his fiancee, fellow webcomic artist Nation of Amanda. MSL hasn't updated in over a year due to other projects Mitch is working on.